Congratulations to Dr. Deidre Butler, Assistant Professor of Religion (College of Humanities) and Associate Director of the Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies, who has been selected as a recipient of the 2012 Teaching Achievement Award at Carleton University.
The Teaching Achievement Awards were established in 1991 to enhance the teaching of the recipients and the quality of instruction at Carleton. Selection for the awards is based on demonstrated excellence in teaching and on the quality of the teaching development projects proposed.
Dr. Butler’s newest teaching project, incorporating the use of undergraduate research in the Religious Studies classroom, is outlined here:
An Invitation to Research: Undergraduate Researchers in the Religious Studies Classroom
This course-based project opens up unprecedented access to the world of real research in the academic study of religion at Carleton University. Through a new course, Judaism and the Practice of Ritual, (to be offered September 2013), students will receive training in research design and interview-based research. They will investigate home ritual practices in the Ottawa Jewish community with attention to the phenomena of intermarriage, conversion, and same-sex marriages. Combining interview and questionnaire-based research, this project takes advantage of the breadth of data that can be collected by a class cohort of researchers. Students will ultimately participate in the presentation of the research at scholarly conferences and in peer-reviewed publications.